Ten years ago, working out typically meant paying a monthly fee to run indifferently on a treadmill in a grungy gym. These days, you’ll likely be paying $35 an hour to be part of a tribe of like-minded fitness buffs in a white-walled boutique fitness studio.
Behind that shift were designers such as Peter Bryant, whose firm has worked on dozens of studios including SoulCycle, Physique 57, Barry’s Bootcamp and, most recently, the cold fitness studio Brrrn.
“We try to make these spaces feel like people can be there for a while, like a church, ” says Bryant, 55.
Bryant says all the boutique gyms he’s designed tend to have a lot in common: a neutral color palette, clean angles and a minimalist aesthetic. His more recent designs include places where people can charge their phones, and tables where they can congregate after classes, sometimes with a juice or a shake.
And there’s almost always motivational imagery, ideally that can also serve as the perfect backdrop for an Instagram photo, says architect Nathan Bright, who has designed studios such as Fhitting Room, Rumble and Flywheel. “That’s an integral part of our design,” Bright says. “We lay out Instagram moments and where those moments can happen.”
In the Noho boxing studio Rumble, for instance, boxing gloves are hung and lit by subtle spotlights. Murals and statues are placed in open areas, where people can pose with them. “It’s almost like you’re in an art gallery,” Bright says.
Space also has to be used strategically, especially if shaving an extra square foot off a locker room could mean an additional stationary bike, to fit in one more participant. To help brighten and open up cramped studios, designers typically rely on pleasing, non-fluorescent lighting, clean, straight lines and a simple color theme against a backdrop of white.
And, as technology and tastes evolve, so do the studios.
With more trainers broadcasting their classes on apps and social-media networks to reach a wider audience, we’ll begin to see more film-friendly fitness studios, says Bright.
Another emerging trend is housing multiple kinds of boutique studios, from cycling to TRX suspension training to pilates, under one roof. Two newcomers, Neo U in Midtown and FitHouse in Noho, offer one-stop boutique-class shopping, and a third, TruFusion, is slated to open this fall in Soho. Bright says these models are more cost-effective to build and lucrative than single-studio gyms.
And despite a premium on space, expect to see more room for lounging post- and pre-workout, says Doug Houstoun, the principal architect with Heitler Houstoun Architects, which designed popular studios such as women’s-only gym Uplift, Pure Barre and cardio dance studio 305 Fitness.
“It becomes something that you need to physically be there to participate in,” Houstoun says. “That community is something these places bring that you’re not getting at a clothing store. These are the next generation of social clubs.”
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